updated 10:59 am EDT, Wed June 13, 2012

Firm tears down 2012 MacBooks

Repair outfit iFixit has conducted teardowns of two of Apple's new MacBook models -- including, notably, the Retina version of the MacBook Pro, which it complains is the "least repairable laptop" it has ever taken apart. The system uses special pentalobe screws for instance, which like the iPhone 4, 4S, and MacBook Air, require a screwdriver most people won't have. The RAM is soldered to the logic board, as in the Air, preventing people from either upgrading or replacing memory.

The computer's SSD normally can't be upgraded either, although iFixit says it does hope to offer an upgrade for the part, which exists as a separate daughtercard. A more serious concern is the notebook's battery, since it is glued into the case rather than screwed, making it more prone to breaking during disassembly. The battery moreover covers the trackpad cable, which could potentially lead people to accidentally disable the trackpad during a repair.

The display assembly is "completely fused," according to iFixit, without any glass protecting it. The company warns that if anything goes wrong with the display, the entire assembly will need to be replaced at a very high pricetag. The notebook as a whole is described as "virtually non-upgradeable -- making it the first MacBook Pro that will be unable to adapt to future advances in memory and storage technology." iFixit is however enthusiastic about some other aspects of the computer's design, such as its new ports, asymmetrical fan, and a Samsung SSD.

With the new MacBook Air, Apple has reportedly switched the flash controller to a Toshiba-marked design based on a SandForce SATA III controller chip. People should, therefore, be able to upgrade the SSD once third-party parts hit the market.

Other changes in the Air are minimal, although Apple is said to have made some minor adjustments to keep power consumption stable despite faster processors, such as moving from 1.5V SDRAM to 1.35V memory from Hynix. The system is also given a 4/10 repairability score, which may be poor, but is still better than the MacBook Pro's 1/10.

whine!

For those who like to fool around with such things, these "complaints" will not be a problem. To the rest be warned "you shouldn't be messing in the first place."
Most "fixit" problems are caused by the clueless.

Non-upgradeable memory?

Yeesh

The last time I had a Mac with soldered memory it was the 4MB in my Performa 630CD... but at least it came with a SIMM expansion slot which allowed me to max it out with a 32MB SIMM chip! Woohoo!

Apple's usually had a different approach with desktop (PowerMac/MacPro) designs since they're geared for those whom want to add things in, unlike the iMac/MacBook series, although the latter would usually allow for at least RAM upgrades.

give iFixit a chance

@aristotles, If you really knew anything about iFixit, you'd understand that their goal is to reduce the amount of discarded computers and other things to reduce the amount of toxic waste going into our landfills. Yes, they sell some tools but they also sell replacement parts and have great repair manuals. Their website includes repair manuals for all kinds of things, including lots of manuals/guides submitted by people not associated with iFixit.

As for the new MBP not having any replacement parts, that's Apple's call to construct something that works, that shouldn't fall apart, and also shouldn't need to have anything replaced. The memory issue is tough but go ahead and buy 16GB if you feel it's needed. I am hoping fusing the display to the top cover protects it more than using a separate display. I saw Apple's video showing them twist the MBP and was wondering if it had the display in it. If so, that's not something I'd want to try with my current MBP.

memory not necessarily overpriced

check out OWC, http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/1600DDR3S8GB/, $90 for an 8GB DIMM. You can't buy a 16GB SO-DIMM. OWC only sells 16GB SDRAM for Mac Pro and these are $240. Yes, Apple charges $200 to upgrade to 16GB but you can't always use the difference between sizes when figuring out what the higher capacity memory should cost. Apple soldered the memory to the motherboard so 16GB would fit.

The other thing to verify is how much memory the Core i7 can actually address and at what speed. What Apple is putting in might be all this CPU and memory architecture can handle. Everyone always wants more memory but unless you leave all your applications running at the same time, there are few applications that can actually make use of a 16GB computer. I'm running 8GB and I've never run out of memory although I'd like to have more CPUs with memory when running VMWare.

Re: iFixit are not unbiased.

They are in the business of selling kits for upgrades.

And neither are MacNN posters. But who ever said they were.

iFixit is posting information because they are in the business of FIXING computers and devices, and supplying others who do the same. Thus it matters to these folks how much it costs to replace a screen or pop a processor or whether or not you can replace RAM and how you do it.

The problem is that people (especially here) keep thinking all they want to do is tell you how cheap some mac computer's pieces are and blast apple for gouging customers. (Thus the requisite "But that doesn't count the R&D and blah blah blah" responses that these articles usually elicit).

What they are doing is telling Bob's computer shop how much it's going to cost, or how easy it will be, to replace a component of some Mac (or other computer or device) when it comes into the shop.

Now, and this is key, and I know this will be hard for many of you to understand, but not everyone lives near an Apple store, or an apple specialist, to get their work done. Or they might not go there because the work won't be covered (i.e. you drop your mac and the screen shatters). This is where the independent businesses come into play, and who iFixit is informing.

Memory and HD

To the apple-defenders who say "just get what you need". The problem isn't what one needs now, it is what one needs 2 years from now.

2GB of RAM was more than enough with Snow Leopard. Now, with Lion, people keep saying "Upgrade your memory" to combat spinning beachballs and other slowdowns. So while you might go "8GB? I could never need more than that", two years from now, with OS X.11 coming out, and it turns out the kick-a** new Finder (hahahahahaha, oh, one could dream apple could actually make one!) stalls with such piddling RAM.

But, I know, at that point, you'll tell the people that they don't NEED to upgrade their OS. Or just replace the computer. It's only $1400.

And the HardDrive? No one ever needs more disk space, right?

Oh, BTW, these are also the parts that tend to fail more often than not on a computer. So no more "quick and easy fix and get myself back up and running". Now it's "OK, memory error. Off to apple. Maybe I'll get it back. Assuming I get the same computer back."

Which begs the next question, if you do send in your computer, will you get it back, or just another refurb from someone else? You know, like they do with iPhones and iPads and the like?

Completely disagree with msuper69...

People buying the MBPRD are usually in most need of staying on the bleed edge of technology. Always pushing their laptops in video editting and whatnot. Not being able to upgrade could be a problem for them. However, Apple is betting that most upgrades can be found through the thunderbolt adapter. Bottom line. Max out your RAM when you purchase. For everythig else there is Thunderbolt.

"few applications"

Having just upgraded home and work iMacs from 4GB to 16GB (Aperture and Eclipse being the primary apps running on each) I have to say that this has seriously improved my experience of both systems and both sets of apps.

Apple RAM *is* overpriced, especially if you try to max out the system when you buy it. Every Apple machine I've ever owned (going back to a beige G3) has seriously benefited from a major RAM upgrade mid-way through its lifecycle -- maxing out the RAM was too expensive when I bought the system, but not so much later on.

Useful

It is useful and valuable to know that the RAM can't be upgraded, but I doubt this is going to stop very many people from buying one. As for those who say "I don't know what my RAM needs will be two years from now" I say "GMAFB" (give me a freakin' break).

"Oh yeah, I *suddenly* got a job as lead editor on an HDTV series! Totally unexpected, now I need 16GB of RAM! Oh Apple screwed meeeeeeeee (descending into whiner noises)"

Puh-lease. The fact that the RAM is non-upgradeable is certainly a factor to consider, but this is EXACTLY why 8GB of RAM is included in the first place. Apple doesn't foresee the typical user requiring more in the foreseeable future (ie the 4-year average lifespan of the machine).

For those few who misguess their needs, there's this thing called selling your machine while its still "young" and using the money to upgrade ... you should look into it. It's a thing. :)

As for the SSD upgrade, looks like that will likely happen so that's not a big deal. The battery technology they're using has proven itself to not need replacing so that's not an issue, and MacFixit is just being anal dinging the company for using pentalobe screws IMO. It's not like you have to go to Cuba to get some, come on.

As for "Apple overcharges for RAM," that was much more true a couple years back than it is now. I don't find the charge now (at least for this particular machine) to be significantly different than doing it myself (not that I can with this model).

Like I said: I'm glad iFixit brought up the subject, it's certainly going to help me determine how I customize mine when I get one. These teardowns are useful in educating consumers and are valuable for gearheads, but I think the gearheads and power-nerds need to remember that even on the high-end equipment like this, you're not the typical user. You're the one percent, to coin a phrase. Take it from a former tech: 99 percent of users NEVER open their machines for ANY REASON EVER.

Mac Pro owners are the only notable exception, and I'd still say the number is north of 75 percent even for those people.

Hmmm...

Shocker

Oh gee, it's the usual anti-Apple crowd here pretending they represent Apple users and pissed you can't upgrade the machine... I call bs. I'm on my 3rd MBP, I want the Retina MBP. Ohh no, I can't upgrade the ram or add a larger drive down the road...oh no, what will I ever do?! Oh, wait, how many times did I do that with my previous MBPs? Ohh, once or twice, I guess I'll just configure it as I *think* I'll need it and then live happily ever after. See? It's not so difficult, if you can afford it and you want it, f'ing buy it. If you want a laptop that you can upgrade, buy that? There's no conspiracy here, you're free to buy one or not buy one, isn't that amazing!

Well, that sunk the ship

14 years after taking the company to Sony 3.5" Disks apple killed the floppy. 14 years after that they kill the optical drive, and your ability to upgrade RAM, and your ability to even open the thing up and replace components. I imagine many of you would be thrilled to buy a car you can't open the hood on, even to replace a simple item like the battery or fluids. Not me.

iDon't Want to Fix It!

I really don't want to get inside a computer to "fix" things. Having said that, I have swapped the Apple supplied RAM for larger chips from Crucial on every Mac I've owned because their prices were always less than those Apple charged - sometimes by a factor of 50%. But lately I've noticed that Apple's RAM prices have closed the gap to the aftermarket makers and while it may still be slightly more from Apple, the difference wasn't big enough to worry about. The only other thing I've done is doubled the HDD capacity in a late model, Black MacBook from 160 Gb to 320 Gb (but actually a friend did that, it took ten minutes). At the time of purchase, the 160Gb HDD was the biggest available for that model.

My worry though is what will the needs of OS X or iCloud or that year's version of the iPhone or iPad be in three years time? Will their then new, flash,bang wallop features require me to throw my otherwise useful computer away? Already iCloud is highly selective about which features can be used by which Mac, and the latest iPhone 4s needs a newer Mac than I have and to my mind that is not a good thing.

The reason I moved from Microsoft to Apple in the first place was because I didn't like the feeling of coercion Microsoft applied in a variety of ways for me to use Windows; if Apple are now adopting a similar strategy then we are all doomed.

Well,

I don't really care about not being able to upgrade the "Retina" because I'm not going to buy one. I was a certified Apple tech years ago and it was kind of sad seeing Apple's warranty service work shift from the Mom and Pop techs to just "ship it to Apple." That was a long time ago, and I'm sure it's even worse today. So what's actually left for techs to work on now? The Mac Pro? The Minis? Kind of sad, really. The old days of repairs are pretty much gone... all for form and design.

My last Apple laptop was a TiBook G4, 1ghz top-of-the line. I eventually upgraded the RAM AND hard drive. Different rules these days, I guess. F U, Apple.